Immigration Status threatened by some agency ?

[sausa 20]

Hello!

I have a strange situation. I am a South African Citizen and just filed my N400 here in the US. In July I paid some passport agency in South Africa to expedite my South African Passport application for renewal as it was expiring ( I work for an airline so need a valid passport at all times). There were some issues with the original application and ultimately it could not be renewed. When I asked for a refund they denied this , so in essence they expected me to forfeit about $380 even though they could not render me a passport, I later found out there were multiple complaints about this person and company online.

 

They ended up blocking me on WhatsApp when I asked for a refund, so I went onto Facebook to message another company they work with who is a "Immigration Agency" apparently based in the US. Anyways I told them my whole story and shockingly they took his side and then sent me a message saying if I ever post something negative on social media about him it could damage my relationship with USCIS?!😯

 

Is this even allowed? I feel like I have a genuine case to sue these people ( By the way they eventually agreed to refund my money). But I just cannot believe someone can go and tell you that if I post factual reviews of them online, that my immigration status in the US will be affected 🤣

 

I feel like people are genuinely being screwed by this because they are too scared to post their experiences probably because they got messages like this. I'm not going to name and shame here but it seems this is completely illegal? Thoughts?

[JFH 12,192]

Ignore them. Your issue with a private company in another country has no bearing on your relationship with USCIS. 
 

It’s a scam. Possibly illegal. 

[Loren Y 2,762]

The company is located in South Africa? Good luck with anything legal. Chalk this up as a 380 dollar lesson. Have you actually seen your money refunded? If so consider yourself extremely lucky.

Edited October 30, 2020 by Loren Y

[Timona 4,208]

Why didn't you just pay a relative to get it for you in SA? Then get it from them? Kenyan embassy in US is notoriously lazy and inept. So we use the above option and it costs way less. Last time I checked, I only paid like $30 in Kenya. Here in the US, it's way ways above that. Maybe SA is the same as Kenya. If so, then use this option. 

 

Edited October 30, 2020 by Timona

[sausa 20]

7 minutes ago, Timona said:

1. Why didn't you just pay a relative to get it for you in SA? Then get it from them? Kenyan embassy in US is notoriously lazy and inept. So we use the above option and it costs way less. Last time I checked, I only paid like $30 in Kenya. Here in the US, it's way ways above that. Maybe SA is the same as Kenya. If so, then use this option. 

 

2. Is your bank in the US? Did you pay directly to the agency? If both are YES, call your bank and refute claim. Your bank should be able to help. 

 

Good luck

Yes the embassys here are a complete mess too. I can't get a family member to apply for me we have to be in the country. 

 

They agreed to refund the money " On Monday" , we will see.

 

The company that sent me that threat is actually based in the USA...But yes I was going to ignore it but I think it is just disgusting behavior and could genuinely stress someone out. I'm more angry about this other persons response than the company that actually refused to refund me in the first place. It just seemed Illegal and I wanted to post a review about my experience but now I'm too scared.

Edited October 30, 2020 by sausa

[Timona 4,208]

8 minutes ago, sausa said:

Yes the embassys here are a complete mess too. I can't get a family member to apply for me we have to be in the country. 

 

They agreed to refund the money " On Monday" , we will see.

 

The company that sent me that threat is actually based in the USA...But yes I was going to ignore it but I think it is just disgusting behavior and could genuinely stress someone out. 

 

Mmmmm really? In Kenya, all you need is your PP pic, fill in application and send a friend to drop it off. You'll get it faster and cheaper than waiting for the Kenyan embassy in US to pick up your phone. So a lot of us in the US just send someone who's down in Kenya to renew PP for us. Then just wait for someone coming over to the US to come with it or DHL it if you have agency.

 

 

The threatening company us in the US?? Shame them. They can't do anything to you. Infact, I'll be corky and tell them to go contact USCIS and inbox/ send / email me all correspondences.  

Edited October 30, 2020 by Timona

[JFH 12,192]

The most you can do is file a claim through your credit card that you paid for a service you did not receive. You might get something back that way. If not, you’ve contributed to the scammer’s Christmas party fund and it’ll be a $380 lesson. 

[SalishSea 18,375]

1 hour ago, sausa said:

Hello!

I have a strange situation. I am a South African Citizen and just filed my N400 here in the US. In July I paid some passport agency in South Africa to expedite my South African Passport application for renewal as it was expiring ( I work for an airline so need a valid passport at all times). There were some issues with the original application and ultimately it could not be renewed. When I asked for a refund they denied this , so in essence they expected me to forfeit about $380 even though they could not render me a passport, I later found out there were multiple complaints about this person and company online.

 

They ended up blocking me on WhatsApp when I asked for a refund, so I went onto Facebook to message another company they work with who is a "Immigration Agency" apparently based in the US. Anyways I told them my whole story and shockingly they took his side and then sent me a message saying if I ever post something negative on social media about him it could damage my relationship with USCIS?!😯

 

Is this even allowed? I feel like I have a genuine case to sue these people ( By the way they eventually agreed to refund my money). But I just cannot believe someone can go and tell you that if I post factual reviews of them online, that my immigration status in the US will be affected 🤣

 

I feel like people are genuinely being screwed by this because they are too scared to post their experiences probably because they got messages like this. I'm not going to name and shame here but it seems this is completely illegal? Thoughts?

I'd Yelp those scammers!

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

They have no way to jeopardize your status- they are trying to scare you. Unfortunately we had a similar situation in which the Haitian Embassy instructed us to use a specific person in our state to complete the passport application. Well the guy submitted the application to the embassy but took our money!!! I was irate at the embassy staff - we ended up going in person trying to sort this out- and we had to pay again! I was so pissed as well as my husband- I thought we were going to get kicked out. In our case this wasn't some random agency- it was the embassy that screwed us!! Can't wait for his citizenship to be completed so we won't have to deal with them ever again. I don't think there is any recourse we could have taken- they only accepted money orders. I feel for you. 

[igoyougoduke 1,679]

4 hours ago, sausa said:

paid some passport agency in South Africa to expedite my South African Passport application for renewal as it was expiring

file with ICE that they are employing some scammers in US. They should take care of them

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

5 hours ago, Timona said:

Why didn't you just pay a relative to get it for you in SA? Then get it from them? Kenyan embassy in US is notoriously lazy and inept. So we use the above option and it costs way less. Last time I checked, I only paid like $30 in Kenya. Here in the US, it's way ways above that. Maybe SA is the same as Kenya. If so, then use this option. 

 

You can’t do that in SA, you need to apply in person, they take your fingerprints when you do the application. (A family member can collect it and send it once produced, but you need to apply in person.) I know people who have actually flown there just to get a passport, needing it urgently vs the 6-9 months it takes via the consulates. This is not an option now or since March with international airspace in SA closed during Covid. (And btw it is not an issue with the consulates here - all documents can only be produced in SA and the consulates send the passport and other applications to SA weekly - it is a case of the authorities in SA purposely backlogging all applications that come from overseas embassies.)

 

@sausa, no this agency cannot interfere with anything to do with USCIS. Sorry you got scammed. I wish there was a central “name and shame” to check these guys against. I would report the US based company for threatening/blackmailing you with this, especially if you have it in writing.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[sausa 20]

18 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

You can’t do that in SA, you need to apply in person, they take your fingerprints when you do the application. (A family member can collect it and send it once produced, but you need to apply in person.) I know people who have actually flown there just to get a passport, needing it urgently vs the 6-9 months it takes via the consulates. This is not an option now or since March with international airspace in SA closed during Covid. (And btw it is not an issue with the consulates here - all documents can only be produced in SA and the consulates send the passport and other applications to SA weekly - it is a case of the authorities in SA purposely backlogging all applications that come from overseas embassies.)

 

@sausa, no this agency cannot interfere with anything to do with USCIS. Sorry you got scammed. I wish there was a central “name and shame” to check these guys against. I would report the US based company for threatening/blackmailing you with this, especially if you have it in writing.

 

 

 

 

Hi SussieQQQ

 

Glad to hear from another South African. I have everything in writing/screenshots yes, but honestly I do not feel like stirring the pot right now because of my pending N400. I know their claims are completely baseless, so I will still write the negative review on the expat groups about them. I just don't know who I am dealing with, you know very well how bad corruption is there, I'm afraid this individual who I Paid to do my passport is going to go and cancel my current passport or cause some issues when I actually try reapply. We will see I guess

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

There’s a US website to report the US based guy to. I don’t recall it now but can look it up for you. I don’t think USCIS will take kindly to being used as a threat in a private dispute.

 

 

 

[sausa 20]

42 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

There’s a US website to report the US based guy to. I don’t recall it now but can look it up for you. I don’t think USCIS will take kindly to being used as a threat in a private dispute.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2020 by sausa

[Sparkle Sparkle 914]

You should report to USCIS first, but attach all correspondence with the sham agency and send them all to uscis... You are obligated to report fraud.